Dr Tharshiny pankaj

Group CEO, Regent Global and Principal, Regent Hill London and Regent College London

Tharshiny came to the UK at 13, fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka.She successfully adapted to life in the UK, progressing through the education system and graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from Brunel University in 1999, the first person in her family to be awarded a degree. That same year,Tharshiny founded Regent Independent College with her husband Selva and her late father-in-law: Regent Global was born.

Tharshiny has been central to Regent Global’s success. As Principal of Regent College London (RCL), Tharshiny has been acknowledged for her unwavering dedication to excellence, innovation and inclusivity. Tharshiny’s strategic leadership and focus on operational efficiency transformed the company’s governance and development, enhancing its functionality. Her commitment to academic quality and a collaborative ethos uplifted the educational community, establishing Regent Global as a leading educational and technological entity. Her financial savvy and strategic foresight have secured the company’s financial health and growth, with her risk management and compliance skills
ensuring long-term stability. Recognitions from the Office for Students, including the National Student Survey and the Teaching Excellence Framework, affirm the high standards of education Tharshiny set at RCL.

Regent Global celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2024. Although it has grown to be a global business working in education, impactful investment and economy building, it operates as One Regent. Working as One Regent ensures that the company’s ethos and values are reflected in all of Regent Global’s businesses. Regent Global’s current activities are outlined below.

  • Regent College London (RCL), a higher education business operating in the UK and beyond. RCL launched University Study Centre in Dubai with INTO University Partnerships in 2025 and RCL Mumbai in March 2026. RCL Malta will open in 2026.
  • Regent Global launched a new, fully digital university in San Marino in 2025, Regent European University (REU), which Tharshiny is CEO of. A further digital university in the United States, Regent American University, will welcome its first students in 2026. Selva and Tharshiny are also in the final stages of creating a state-of-the-art new British university, Regent Hill London (RHL) subject to approval, with an emphasis on a mindset shift to unleash human natural intelligence. RHL will launch in September 2026 offering a premium MBA.
  • Regent Real Estate, working in residential and commercial property development and investments in the UK, UAE, USA and Sri Lanka.
  • In Dubai, Regent has acquired Gulf Indian High School (GIHS), one of the oldest schools in the state, and is planning a new K-12 British curriculum school with one of the UK’s leading independent schools, Woldingham.
  • Also in Dubai, Regent Institute Middle East (RIME) is a Technical and Vocational Education and Training centre.
  • Regent Global is working towards establishing a Dubai Global Forum (DGF) to become an economic bridge between Dubai and global markets.
  • Regent Lifestyle Dubai is a lifestyle and business services company dedicated to making life in the UAE seamless, enjoyable and rewarding. It offers a range of services including real estate and tourism.
  • Regent Investment Management (RIM) is a boutique investment firm with share investments and an outsourcing management company. It is exploring several joint ventures globally.
  • Regent Global is setting up businesses to make the most of new technologies. Regent Imagination Design and Execution 21 (Ride21) is a series of innovation hubs in global tech hotspots such as London, New York, San Francisco and Dubai, where brilliant minds come together to tackle real-world challenges using the latest technology, including AI. AI Regent plc (AIR) focuses on how organisations can use AI.
  • Regent Talent Exchange (RTX) kickstarts careers through J-1 visas to the USA.

Tharshiny is a philanthropist. In 2026, Regent Global and One Young World launched The Pankaj Award to End Conflict offering $250,000 to accelerate the work of young leaders who are preventing and resolving conflict around the world. In October 2023, Tharshiny became a member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Sustainability 70 Steering Group (SG70). The group is responsible for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the award, so that it can enrich the lives of more young individuals, enabling them to realise their potential and make a positive impact on the world through non-formal education. Tharshiny gifted Public Learn, a platform for discovering free online courses from leading institutions to the Sri Lankan people. She is a patron of the British Asian Trust and a supporter of EshareLife Foundation. Since 2017, Tharshiny and Selva have worked to foster peace between the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala community in UK. What started as the Sri Lankan Unity Dinner is now a Global Unity Dinner (GUD) to foster unity, reconciliation and forgiveness. GUD promotes harmony, with the ultimate goal of preventing conflict worldwide. The Pankaj Foundation brings together the Pankaj’s philanthropic activities and other projects of importance to the family outside of Regent Global. As well as SG70 and GUD these include the Universities Global Challenge, an annual prize supporting human-centred AI research to be presented at World Governments Summit, and the Future of Education, a programme to integrate natural intelligence and artificial intelligence as part of India Global Forum.

Tharshiny received the Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award at the 2025 Burj CEO Awards in Dubai. She also received the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award at the 2025 GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, having won CEO of the Year at the same awards in 2024. Tharshiny was a runner up at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2020. She was included in the GG2 Power List in 2024, the Asian Rich List 101 Wealthiest Asians in 2024 and 2025 and the Asian Power Couple Hot 100 List in 2019. Regent Global received the GG2 ED&I Award for Excellence in Education in 2023 and was recognised in The Times Top 100 for being one of the fastest-growing education companies in the UK in 2022. In 2024, the World Economic Forum (WEF) granted Regent Global WEF membership, recognising the company’s contribution to a sustainable future. In November 2025 Regent Global won the WEF New Champions Community Choice award. Tharshiny was awarded an honorary doctorate by Regent European University in 2025.

Tharshiny is a global citizen, proud of her British citizenship and honoured to also hold residencies for the USA, UAE, Sri Lanka and Malta. Tharshiny and her husband and business partner Selva are a package. They need one another to reach their mutual goals and achieve the Regent vision: the end result of education is character. Regent Global is a family business; Selva and Tharshiny’s eldest daughter Sharanie leads the next generation Regent Global team and their youngest daughter Dharanie has also joined the business on a part-time basis while she completes her university studies.